


Filling Empty Spaces

by Goddess47



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: First Time, M/M, Romance, SGA_Santa 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 20:12:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3087524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goddess47/pseuds/Goddess47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Where'd everything go?" John asked, looking around the mostly empty room. "Not like you to put stuff in storage."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Filling Empty Spaces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Spikespet7](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Spikespet7).



> For SGA_Santa 2013 - Spikespet7 asked for: "as happy as one can be during a war with the Wraith"... the Wraith don't make as much of an appearance as I hoped (that's in the part of the story that just didn't get finished, sorry!) but there is happy!
> 
> Reposting last year's story.

The story as it should have been: With an increasing number of stories of downed, wrecked Wraith ships, there's a question about what may be going on. But until Lorne's team meets up with some Traders off planet, it's only second hand information. They finally meet up with the Traders who have actually seen a downed ship.

The expedition to the visit downed ship is carefully planned, but all planning goes to hell when Rodney slices into his containment suit on a sharp piece of metal. Rodney goes back to the Delta site to then be put into an Isolation room in the Infirmary.

In the middle of all this, General Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson come to Atlantis, evidently to stay. O'Neill isn't as much retired as "out of the reach of everyone" and John is at wits end about what to do with a soon-to-be-bored not-quite-retired General.

John is reminded of a recent conversation with Evan Lorne about clearing out a couple of floors in a city tower to make into 'real' offices for the military and the scientists. John puts O'Neill and Jackson on city-clearing duty -- something that will keep O'Neill busy and let Jackson learn more about the Ancients.

John visited Rodney while Rodney was in the Isolation room, but now Rodney's been let out...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Sheppard? What the fuck are you doing?" Jack O'Neill stood in his office door.

John looked up, startled. He hadn't heard O'Neill come in.

"Working on a report for..." He peered at the screen. "The SGC." He sighed. The reports he needed to do seemed endless and he wondered whether anyone really read them.

O'Neill sighed. "Okay, I thought you were smarter than this," O'Neill said patiently.

"Excuse me?" John was baffled.

"Rodney was released from the infirmary an hour ago and you're here writing reports?" O'Neill said.

John leaned back in his chair and wearily rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, but.." He didn't know what to say.

"Sheppard, screw the report, get your ass out of that chair and go to him," O'Neill ground out.

John looked up, panicked. "Umm... what?" he stuttered.

O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Really? Now you choose to play oblivious?"

John blushed. "I asked him if he wanted anything and he said no," John asked.

"Sheppard. John. Get your ass to wherever he is right now," O'Neill said gently. "He said no because he has his own pride. But the two of you need your heads knocked together and evidently I've been chosen to do it."

"You think he and I..." John couldn't finish that sentence.

"Yes." There was no doubt in that quick answer.

Well, that was unexpected. John turned to his computer, saved the report and logged out. He considered for a moment, then tapped his communicator.

"Lorne?" John called.

"Yes, sir?" Lorne's voice came back immediately.

"I'm playing hooky tonight," John said. "Only call if the universe is coming to an end."

John could hear a chuckle and the unsaid About time! "Not a problem, we have it covered," Lorne assured him

"Thanks!" John said.

John stood up and hesitated for a moment. "I guess I have someplace to be," John said to O'Neill.

O'Neill stepped out of the doorway. As John came abreast of him, O'Neill said with a small grin, "It's worth it."

John gave a small grin of his own.

John took the transporter to Rodney's room. He knew Carson had allowed Rodney to leave the infirmary on the condition he wait another day before returning to the labs. Carson knew as well as Rodney that Rodney could work almost as well from his room as from the labs.

After his exposure to unknown viruses, the initial quarantine period was over, but Carson wanted Rodney to keep away from most other people for another day.

"Everything looks good and you should be fine, just don't want to take the risk," Carson had said.

Rodney had been grateful to get out of the Isolation room and back to his own room, and had readily agreed to the restriction. Carson had made arrangements for meals to be delivered to Rodney's rooms, which would keep Rodney from having to come out for food.

Standing outside Rodney's room, John got nervous. What if Rodney didn't want him there?

The door opened without his knock and Rodney stood there. "Come in, if you're coming, for heaven's sake," Rodney muttered. He turned and went back into the room.

John followed him and the door closed behind him. He looked around and again noticed the empty spaces in the room. Like things were missing.

"Where'd everything go?" John asked. "Not like you to put stuff in storage."

Rodney turned and faced John. "I, umm, asked Lorne to give me new space in the tower we've put Jack and Daniel into."

There is was again. "How is General O'Neill just Jack to you?' John had to ask.

Rodney blushed. It was charming, a word John didn't think ever applied to Rodney. John moved closer.

"No, on second thought, I suspect I don't want to know," John admitted.

Rodney shook his head. "No, only fair that you know," he said. "It was after Daniel had died the last time. Jack was just so devastated that, well, I had to offer." He gave a small smile, perhaps remembering a fond memory. He looked up at John. "It was one time, two lonely people. You know what I mean."

John moved even closer -- close enough to reach out and touch, if he dared. "I do know," John admitted, thinking back to Holland. They had been better friends than lovers, but there had been one bad night that they both had needed another warm body to hold on to.

"So where are you moving to?" John asked, thinking back to the request he had put into Lorne that he finally realized he hadn't heard anything about.

"Want to see?" Rodney asked.

"Will Carson throw a fit?" John asked.

Rodney smirked. "Probably," he admitted. "But there's not to many folk moved in to the tower and the floor is empty still. And I'm only not supposed to go to the lab or the mess."

"Well, that should work," John grinned. "Lead on."

Rodney moved to the other side of the desk and picked up a box. "No sense in going empty handed," he said, handing the box over to John.

"Hey, there are marines to help you move!" John protested, because he could.

"It's one lousy box," Rodney said calmly. "Suck it up."

"Okay, okay," John teased. "Better be worth my while."

Rodney grinned. "I suspect I can manage that."

John's mouth went dry at the thought of what Rodney might do to pay him back. He swallowed carefully and said, "Lead on!"

Rodney took another box and lead back to the transporter. John had been through the new space a couple of times, once on the initial look through and again when they had been making the final decision to open it up as living space.

They got out of the transporter and Rodney went a short way down the hall to a door. It opened to him easily and they walked into the living space.

Damn. John thought. This was the apartment he had kinda hoped to get for himself. He took a deep breath and figured if he couldn't have it, then at least Rodney got it.

"These can go into the study for now," Rodney said. "Back here."

It was a three bedroom apartment, really more than John needed for himself and probably more than Rodney needed. The biggest attraction was the floor to ceiling windows in the living room, windows that looked out over the East Pier and onto the ocean. With the way the city was oriented, it would get the setting sun.

The 'study' was what could also be a bedroom with a small balcony. They were about 20 stories up -- high enough to have a good view but not quite so bad that they couldn't use the nearby stairs in an emergency.

"This really is nice," John said, once he had put his box down next to the stacks that were already in the room.

"Yeah," Rodney said.

"Kinda big for one person, I would have thought," John said out loud before he could stop himself. No, he wasn't jealous. Not much.

"Well, I had some thoughts about that," Rodney said.

John wanted to smack his head against a wall. Of course, Rodney would have been looking for a place he could share with Keller. It would have been perfect for them.

"Come see the rest," Rodney said, ignoring John's panic attack.

John followed Rodney and there was a second bedroom/study room. Then he followed Rodney into the master bedroom.

"How'd you get a king size bed?" John demanded.

"You don't want to know," Rodney said. "I owe a couple of huge favors to people. But it's worth it."

John looked longingly at the bed, not thinking of Rodney sleeping there. He'd be warm and pliant, making John want to snuggle up to....

John forced himself to stop thinking that way. "It's nice," he gritted out.

Rodney slowly moved closer to John. "It is kinda big for one person," he said softly. "And, well, I know you really wanted this place for yourself."

John looked up at that. When had Rodney moved so close? He could feel the heat from Rodney's body next to his.

"I... I did," John stuttered. "But, well, glad you got it."

"I didn't ask to move up here until Jennifer and I had broken up," Rodney said in that same soft voice. "I didn't move up here for her, I moved up here for you."

"Rodney?" John asked, confused.

"John," Rodney said calmly.

"I... " John hesitated.

Rodney gave a small laugh, "And you say I think too much!" Rodney put a warm hand on the back of John's neck and brought their lips together.

John froze for a moment before remembering that he should be kissing Rodney back!

John found his back against the wall, Rodney leaning into him, warm and sturdy against him. John snaked an arm around Rodney's waist, bringing them firmly together.

Rodney leaned back a bit and John heard himself whine at the loss.

"Hey!" Rodney said gently. "You with me?"

John looked into clear blue eyes, looking at him steadily.

"Always," John admitted.

"Good answer," Rodney said with a grin. "Now, you want to help me christen this place? I haven't slept here yet, was... well, was hoping this would be our place."

The rest of John's body was on board with that, but John's mouth had to do and say, "I... yes, but... what about...?"

"Reduced to babbling is a good look for you," Rodney snuck a small kiss on the side of John's mouth. "I think, maybe, we've been headed this way for a long time. We just didn't figure it out too fast is all."

"It's been almost seven years!" John protested.

"Six years, seven months and twelve days since we first stepped foot on Atlantis," Rodney replied. "Not that I was counting or anything."

John reeled Rodney in for another kiss.

"Bed," Rodney said against his lips.

"Bed," John agreed.

John didn't want to let go, but Rodney gave a small push. "Take your clothes off," he said.

John automatically took the side nearest the door and he heard Rodney snicker at that. John toed off his boots and shimmied out of his clothes in near-record time. But Rodney had already thrown back the covers, revealing soft, light blue sheets on the bed.

John crawled over the ridiculously large bed, moving to lie as close to Rodney as he could.

"What's your pleasure?" Rodney asked.

"You!" John breathed.

Rodney rolled his eyes but they lit in pleasure.

The first time didn't take long, John's embarrassment was only mitigated by the fact that Rodney had come about the same time he did. Basking in the glow and the warmth of Rodney's body, John fell asleep.

John woke slowly, warm and comfortable in a way he had not been in a long time. He opened his eyes to see that he was wrapped around Rodney, his morning wood moving pleasantly between Rodney's cheeks.

"Don't stop now," Rodney's sleep laden voice came over his shoulder.

John dropped a kiss on Rodney's shoulder and moved closer. "Not stopping," he said. He reached around to find Rodney's hand on his own cock and he wrapped his hand around Rodney's.

It wasn't long before they were both coming, Rodney making a oh! sound that John wanted to hear more of. He rolled Rodney over, who wriggled slightly in the wet spot but John apologized for it with a kiss.

They moved to the other side of the bed where the sheets were cooler but also cleaner and John wrapped his arms around Rodney before falling asleep again.

Waking up wrapped around Rodney McKay was something John never thought he'd get to do. It was something he vowed to himself he'd do as often as possible for the rest of his life.

"You're thinking," Rodney mumbled against him.

"Good thoughts," John promised.

"Oh, okay then," Rodney muttered, wriggling slightly and closing his eyes.

"Sorry, gotta piss," John said against Rodney's hair. "Be right back."

John eased out of the bed and padded to the enclosed bathroom that he vaguely remembered from his last visit. He was pleased to see not only an oversized shower but a sunken tub in the huge room. He grinned at the thought of what they could do there.

Rodney was sitting on the edge of the bed when he got back.

"Now that you said it, I gotta piss, too," he muttered. He wandered past John, who turned to look at Rodney's ass,

John looked around at the dimly lit bedroom, realizing that the windows were darkened against the bright sunshine outside. Not wanting to go back to reality just yet, he left the room as it was and got back into the bed.

Rodney crawled over him and dropped down with a small oof!. "You wouldn't think I just spent three days in isolation with nothing to do," he yawned.

"You kept busy enough," John felt obligated to point out. "You probably worked more there than you do in your lab."

Rodney grinned, "Probably. But don't tell Carson."

"Nah," John said, pulling Rodney in for a kiss. "You're secret's safe with me."

It was a couple hours later before they felt like getting up. It turned out the shower worked out nicely for two people, making John want to plan to get into the tub sooner than later.

"Umm... it's kinda presumptive, but you have fresh clothes in the dresser and the closet," Rodney admitted.

"Figured I was a sure thing?" John teased.

"Pretty sure," Rodney grinned. "I hoped so, anyway. Or I'd just return the stuff at some point."

John reached in a drawer for clean t-shirt and shorts, finding a clean uniform in the closet.

Someone had dropped off some breakfast while they were sleeping.

"Who knew we were here?" Rodney asked, suspiciously.

"Well, O'Neill," John admitted. "He essentially told me to get my head out my ass and come to see you. So, probably Daniel, too." He thought. "And I told Lorne I was taking the night off."

"Well, then it was probably Jack," Rodney decided. "Atlantis rolls over for him the same way it rolls over for you." He gave a sly grin. "I'll have to thank him."

"I suspect I owe him my own thanks," John replied.

After eating breakfast, John checked in with Lorne who told John there was nothing going on and he could play hooky for another day if he needed.

"I'll do that," John said with a small grin. "I'll work on some of those reports and I'll be on the comm if you need me."

"Should be fine," Lorne assured him.

Rodney handed John a laptop to use and they worked companionably through the day. O'Neill did deliver another meal with a huge smile but he didn't stay or say anything else.

Dinnertime saw Carson delivering their meal.

"You should be all set," Carson said. "The last set of blood tests are perfectly normal and nothing's shown up anywhere."

"The team examining the samples from the ship found a variation of Jennifer's virus embedded in both the body of the ship and the dead Wraith they found," Rodney reported. "Looks like it spread like wildfire through he ship."

"I'd like to plan another trip with full contamination suits," John said. "This time to see what's left of the ship database and if we can find out what's happening among the other Wraith ships."

"Can we afford to take a Jumper this time?" Rodney asked. "With the heat on the planet, the suits will be unbearable before too long, and even worse once we get inside an confined areas of the ship."

John shrugged. "We could take it through and leave it at the Delta site," he allowed. "That way we maintain a level of quarantine until we're sure nothing's going to happen, and it wouldn't be totally out of commission but it would make the trip easier."

"We could plan a smaller team, just to get at the Wraith database," Rodney said. "In and out."

"Once the ship is on the Delta site, we could use it to do several exploratory missions to the planet, especially while we're waiting for confirmation on whether the virus is spreading or not," John said.

"Sounds like a plan," Rodney agreed.

Carson looked at them, sitting closely together on the couch. "You two idiots finally done pining over each other?" he grinned.

John felt himself blushing. "You, too? Geez, does everyone know?"

Carson laughed. "Well, maybe there's a Genii somewhere that doesn't know..."

"Oh," John said, not sure whether he was pleased or embarrassed for them.

"Go away, Carson," Rodney said. "I'm taking my hot boyfriend back to bed."

Carson stuck his fingers in his ears and said, "La-la-la-la-la-la.." while he had a huge smile on his face as he left.

After Carson left, John put his laptop down and put an arm around Rodney. "I do feel kinda stupid, you know," John said. "Evidently everyone but me knew about us."

"Figured if it went on too much longer, I'd just have Ronon throw you in here and I'd lock us in until you came to your senses," Rodney teased, setting his own laptop aside.

"Hot boyfriend?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you looked at you?" Rodney shrugged. "Works for now," he replied.

John figured he'd wait another week before he asked Rodney to marry him.


End file.
